Galatians

Study 45: Gal.5:22-26

The fruit of the Spirit (6)

Goodness

But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Gal.5:22-26

Do Good, not evil

The next quality in the
list is goodness, the word used has the basic
meaning of uprightness of heart and life, doing good
to others. One can not do good, in the God-given
sense, unless one is right in heart. The tree has to
be good first, and a person can only be good in the
Bible sense when they are renewed by the Holy Spirit. Before that point
they are a corrupt tree, producing evil fruit.

A good
tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can
a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Mtt.7:18-20

There is one particular aspect
of goodness that we shall consider.

If it be possible, as much as lieth
in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves, but rather give place unto
wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed
him; if he thirst, give him drink: for
in so doing thou shalt heap coals of
fire on his head. Be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Rom.12:18-21

Paul in the letter to the Romans
tells the believers not to repay evil with the same, but rather
good for evil. This is opposite to the natural man, but this is
what God Himself did for us. Instead of repaying us with the
same evil that we had shown towards Him, God did good to us by sending
His dearly beloved Son to die for us.

For when we
were yet without strength, in due
time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man
will one die: yet peradventure for a
good man some would even dare to
die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.

Rom.5:6-8

As your Father

Jesus Himself taught this, and made it quite clear what He expected His
followers to do.

Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour,
and hate thine enemy. But I
say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good
to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you,
what reward have ye? do not even the
publicans the same? And if ye
salute your brethren only, what do
ye more than others? do not even the
publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Mtt.5:43-48

It is interesting to note that
Jesus tells us to compare ourselves not with
men, with each other, nor with any 'church
standards' but with God the Father Himself!
In point of fact, wherever we read in
Scripture concerning our standard of life and behaviour,
it is always with comparison to
God Himself. eg I
Pet. 1:16.

In the passage
above we note what Jesus commands:

a) To love our enemies
b) Bless those that curse us.c) Do good those
who hate usd) Pray for those who
despitefully use and persecute us

Now
none can disagree that only those who are born
from above can fulfil this. To achieve
this in the flesh is impossible, but new birth
gives us that divine life, so that we can live
as He requires, or rather as He does II
Pet. 1:4. It is also true that
Jesus never gave a commandment that He Himself did not do. This fruit
of goodness can be seen throughout His earthly life. But we shall look
specifically at the time of His passion, and consider how these
things played out.

Christ our Example

For even hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should
follow his steps: Who did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not
again; when he suffered, he threatened
not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

I Pet.2:21-23

Peter in his first
epistle addresses the question of suffering for the sake of Christ.
Amongst other things he says that in suffering we should follow in the
steps of Christ. As we read the account of Jesus' passion there can be
no doubt that He suffered like no one else, yet He did not deserve any
of it. We know it was all necessary for our salvation, but the point
under consideration now is how Jesus reacted when under such unjust
suffering.

Peter makes it clear that
in all of this Jesus did not sin, there was no guile (
deceit) in His mouth, He was reproached and threatened, but
He never
retaliated. Of
all the people that ever walked the earth Jesus more
than any had just cause to do so - but He didn't! That
is our example. Our glorious Head committed Himself to
the Father and did good to those around.

Let us then
look at some aspects of how He dealt with certain people
surrounding His passion, and see this quality
shine forth.

The man of Sorrows

Jesus, whilst God was also man, and the physical
sufferings were very real to Him as they would be to any
other human being. He was tempted in all points as we
are, yet without sin , so it is fair to conclude that
when under this extreme time of suffering He would have
been under great temptation to retaliate and, as we
would say, give as 'good as He got'. Yet He never did so;
consider the following cases:

Judas the traitor

What we must
understand is that Judas was a chosen disciple, along with the other
11. Jesus chose him as one of the 12 disciples
Jn.6:60; but he was the son perdition. Jesus knew all this yet He
still treated him just like the others. On the evening of the
last supper Jesus, before supper, rises and does the duty of a servant:
He washes the disciples' feet.
Jn.13:1-11. In that passage we have Judas mentioned as
being the one who wasn't clean.

Now just think of Jesus as He washed
each of His disciples' feet. He knew each one; He knew that each would
forsake Him, what was Jesus thinking as He washed? He came to Peter and
Peter was his usual pre-conversion self. Then to Judas. Jesus knew
what he was about to do: Judas was to become the greatest traitor
the world has ever seen by handing Jesus into the hands of those who
sought to destroy Him, yet Jesus loved this man to the end, and
blessed him whilst receiving from Judas a curse.

Malchus - the servant of
the High priest

When Judas came with the band,
who were to arrest Jesus, Peter took a sword and cut the
ear of Malchus off. Jesus immediately healed him, and
rebuked Peter,
Lk.22:50-51; Jn.18:10-11. Now what
can we see here? Malchus was one of those who had come
to do Jesus harm, by helping to arrest Jesus. We are not
told anything else about this man other than he was the
High Priest's servant, we're not told his attitude
towards Jesus or what part he did or did not play in the
conspiracy to have Jesus arrested. But he was
part of the band, and the natural reaction in such a
situation is to 'have a go' at anyone who seems
involved, as Peter did! But Jesus would have none of it.
He healed the man, did him good even if Malchus was part
of a group that meant harm to Jesus.

The soldiers

And when they came unto the place which
is called The skull, there they crucified him,
and the malefactors, one on the right hand and
the other on the left. And Jesus said,
Father, forgive them; for they know not what
they do. And parting his garments among them,
they cast lots.

Lk.23:33-34

The
soldiers therefore, when they had crucified
Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to
every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the
coat was without seam, woven from the top
throughout. They said therefore one to
another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for
it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might
be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my
garments among them, And upon my vesture did
they cast lots.

Jn.19:23-24

Although the Priests and Pilate
gave the sentence it was left to the ordinary solider to carry out
the cruel and barbaric execution. And it was for these men Jesus prayed 'Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do.' He prayed
for those who persecuted and indeed crucified Him. These
men were the actual ones who were inflicting the actual pain on our
Saviour, but were doing so in ignorance. And because of this Jesus
prayed for them.

Conclusion

Many more examples form the
Lord's earthly life could be given, but the above is
sufficient to make the point. Our Lord did good to those
who did evil to Him. If we are born again and have His
life planted in us then we too will display this
quality. We will repay evil with good. Repaying evil
with the same is a result of walking in the flesh.
Let us walk in the Spirit and walk as He did.